禁漫天堂

McKenzie Ferrari, a physics major at 禁漫天堂鈥檚 College of Engineering and a 2022 Goldwater Scholar, is one of 60 students selected nationwide to participate in the Council on Undergraduate Research "Posters on the Hill" event. Mckenzie will have the opportunity to present her project titled 鈥淪ynthetic Spectroscopy of Near-Chandrasekhar Mass Type Ia Supernovae from the Double-Degenerate Channel," which sheds light on the structure of the universe.

"Much of what we know about the structure of the universe, such as its rate of expansion after the Big Bang, relies on the existence of type Ia supernovae, which are large explosions resulting from the internal collapse of stars called white dwarfs,鈥� Mckenzie says. She further explains that white dwarfs are stars at the end of their lifetime; they鈥檝e exhausted all their internal fuel, gained lots of mass, and are only a fraction of their original size. Due to their nature, most鈥攁lthough not all鈥攖ype Ia supernovae output the same amounts of energy and are therefore similar in brightness.

鈥淯tilizing this unique characteristic, astronomers can measure distances throughout space. This technique is how astronomers discovered that the early and late universe were expanding at distinctly different speeds, hinting that a force called dark energy might exist, causing our universe to expand at an increasing rate,鈥� she says.  鈥淰ery little is known about the origin of these type Ia supernovae. Scientists have long believed that a supernova is the result of a white dwarf stealing material from an orbiting companion star鈥攐ften a star like our Sun鈥攗ntil the white dwarf reaches a certain mass called the Chandrasekhar mass, becomes unstable, and explodes. This scenario has been named the 鈥榮ingle-degenerate channel.鈥欌��

Robert Fisher, Professor of Physics at 禁漫天堂 who serves as McKenzie鈥檚 advisor, says, "Mckenzie has been doing research in my group since her first summer at 禁漫天堂. She has consistently impressed me with her brilliance and her dedication to her research efforts. I anticipate that this richly-deserved recognition of Mckenzie's scholarship by the Council of Undergraduate Research will be only the first of many more in the years to come."

鈥淥ur work suggests that white dwarfs approaching this Chandrasekhar mass instead collect material from a companion that is another white dwarf of similar mass; this scenario is the 鈥渄ouble-degenerate channel,鈥� McKenzie says. In addition to the invitation to present her research as part of the "Posters on the Hill" event, Mckenzie was recently accepted to the Harvard Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory REU, one of the most prestigious astrophysics REU in the nation. Learn more about her research and outcomes during the , which will be hosted virtually on April 26 and 27, 2022.